sport news Carlos Alcaraz has everything in his game to take the world by storm - ... trends now
There was a hint of exasperation last week when Rafael Nadal was asked, again, about his young compatriot Carlos Alcaraz.
'It will be better, even if it's interesting, if you stop comparing him to me,' said the Spaniard at the Italian Open.
'We cannot be thinking all the time about how I was and how he is today.
Carlos Alcaraz has drawn many comparisons to all-time great and compatriot Rafael Nadal
'He is what he is and he's fantastic, and probably in 2004 I would not say I was fantastic but I think I was quite good too.'
While the two are different styles of player, Nadal knows full well that the comparisons are inevitable.
It was just after his 19th birthday that he exploded on the scene, running through the big clay court events en route to his first French Open title, which was actually in 2005.
Alex Zverev (R) joked Alcaraz is 'five years old' after losing to the starlet at the Madrid Open
Alcaraz has done something similar, surging to such an extent that he finds himself the bookies' marginal favourite for Paris next week, in light of Nadal's uncertain physical condition.
The teenager's achievements of recent months — he has won three of his last four tournaments and beaten four of the top five players — are very much an established quantity.
Less known is how he has quietly sprung from the hotbed of tennis that is south east Spain, having grown up in Murcia as one of four brothers. His father, also Carlos, was head coach at one of the city's tennis clubs.
Tennis star Nadal is left sweating over his fitness ahead the French Open
The Spaniard suffered with a foot injury in his defeat by Denis Shapovalov at the Italian Open
Among those who encountered Alcaraz during his development were two Brits - current GB No 12 Billy Harris and prominent coach Dan Kiernan, who runs the international SotoTennis Academy 300 miles further down the coast.
It tells you a lot about Alcaraz, and why there is so much fuss about him, that both recall him bringing two great players to mind: Nadal and Roger Federer.
Harris, from the Isle of Man, has played a lot at the lower-tier Futures level and came up against him in early 2020, at a tournament being staged at Nadal's tennis complex in Mallorca.
He even had a match point against the coming superstar, before losing 7-6 in a third set tiebreak.
'It was the intense concentration on every single point that reminded me of Nadal,' he says.
Billy Harris faces Edan Leshem in the ITF Great Britain F8 final on May 15
'He never got down on himself. I was gutted afterwards but at the same time you knew he would be going straight to the Challengers and then on the main tour.
'We all knew he was this junior who was starting to win
